


Lily's Story

by Xx_Astrid_xX



Series: Marauders One-Shots [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Arabic James, Asexual Character, Asexual Remus Lupin, Bisexual, Bisexual James Potter, Bisexual Lily Evans Potter, F/F, F/M, Genderfluid, Genderfluid Sirius Black, Genderfluid Teddy Lupin, Hermaphrodites, James and Lily are divorced, Lily and James Have A Daughter, M/M, Multi, Older Teddy, Open Relationships, Past Relationship(s), Polyamorous Relationships, Polyamory, Post-Op Transgender, Pre-Op Trangender, Regulus Dies, Religion, Religious Content, Teddy Is The Same Age As Harry, Transgender, Welsh Lily, Welsh Remus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 06:23:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8478640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xx_Astrid_xX/pseuds/Xx_Astrid_xX
Summary: Remus is ace and Sirius really likes sex. Remus is willing to put out occasionally, but not enough for Sirius, so instead of letting him suffer through it, Remus tells Sirius to have sex with other people. However, one day, Sirius shags someone a lot different- named James Potter. As a lot of other stuff goes on, James tried desperately to get Sirius to talk to him... Until one day, he shows up at his house and has a secret encounter with Remus. Ever since that day, the three of them have been together.And, of course, Sirius tells this to his eleven-year-old granddaughter as he dies.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I read a fic where James spoke Arabic and really, really fell in love with it. Like, a lot. And I really wanted to have a crazy amount of different sexualities/genders, so I did one, and I love it! Longest one-shot I have ever written, though, with the least amount of dialogue. Feedback is amazing!

Sirius Black stared into the window’s reflective glass with a small, knowing smile on his face. It was an odd face, the once tight, porcelain skin drooping, the once bright, silver eyes now dull and covered with cataracts. His son, Harry, stood behind him, with a face not so youthful itself. The forty year old man had his arm around his daughter, Lily, who peered up at Sirius with pretty brown eyes.  
“Tell me a story, Papa,” the eleven year old girl said. Sirius wasn’t sure if she knew that he was about to pass, just like Grandpa and Grampops. Sirius closed his eyes and pictured his old spouses; Remus Lupin and James Potter.  
Sirius would be the last of his grandchildren’s grandfathers to go. For Harry’s children, it had been Sirius, James, and Remus, but for Esther’s, it had been just Sirius and Frank.  
Lily, James and Albus- Harry’s and Teddy’s kids- still had Teddy’s mum, Nymphadora, but Harry’s mum, Lily, was gone. Alice, Frank, Augusta, and Francesca- Neville’s and Esther’s kids- had lost Lily (Esther’s mum) and Alice (Neville’s mum).  
“A story? I reckon all of my stories are too grown-up for a little tyke like you, Lils,” Sirius croaked. He sounded and looked very much older than sixty-one. As Sirius hacked into a handkerchief, he thought bitterly that he felt a lot older, too; he didn’t have to look at the blood spatter to know it was there. If he’d ever felt an ounce of regret, it would have been towards the cigarette smoking that had gotten him the damn lung cancer in the first place, but Sirius had never made any regrets in his life.  
All of them had had one bad aspect, a habit for most of them, and it had killed them.   
Remus, the first to go, had died from an asthma attack when on one of his cleaning binges; Sirius had warned him he was getting too old for the chemicals. That had been seven years ago.  
Lily had been next; the drinking caught up to her, and they’d all learned first-hand that liver failure wasn’t pretty. She went not a year after Remus.  
Emmeline had come not six months later; Lily’s death had reawakened her pill addiction, and she overdosed.  
Then it had been Marlene’s turn; a year later, she’d been shot in a shady pool game after being caught cheating.  
Alice was next, and she’d gone after a long struggle with breast cancer. Frank had found it bitterly ironic that right after she’d had surgery to give herself breasts, they killed her. She was three years ago, but she’d gotten the cancer something like fifteen years ago.  
Next to go had been Frank. With Alice gone, he’d had little to no income, and so much debt that he lost everything. Still, he refused any assistance, and a year after Alice, he’d either starved or frozen to death in his foreclosed home. His death was probably the hardest.  
And, finally, James had passed last year. Always the kind to stick by his clients, he’d defended the wrong person and been targeted. Some gang had poisoned him with some repulsive virus. His death had been long and painful, but he went quietly.  
And then, it had just been Sirius, Nymphadora, and the children and grandchildren. Not that Sirius and Nymphadora ever spoke.  
“I’m not a tyke!” Lily exclaimed childishly. Harry laughed and ruffled her hair.  
“Go ahead, Si,” Harry allowed. “I wasn’t too much older than her when I witnessed quite a bit.”  
Sirius thought about that a moment… And while he recounted his past, he told Lily a much more censored version of it.  
Harry had been born when Sirius was twenty-one, just like Teddy. However, it would be thirteen years until Sirius ever met the man Sirius now considered a son, and the story for Lily would start much before that.  
When Sirius was nineteen, he’d been working in a gay bar as a dancer. He’d been fresh from a rich, traditional home in London, and he’d been desperate for money. Contrary to his expectations, however, the job hadn’t been horrible and actually, he’d rather enjoyed it. He was what he called agenderflux- though he hardly cared what others called it- which meant he didn’t particularly have a gender, but fluctuated between feeling more masculine or feminine. He removed his body hair, kept his hair long, and made sure not to build any noticeable muscle. He was very attractive as either a male or female. At the bar, he was always male, though, obviously.  
Not long after he’d turned twenty, sometime late in the year, a john started coming rather often. He always looked so unsure, but so very attractive to Sirius, and he always made sure to offer a dance to the guy. However, he always refused, preferring to drink slowly at the bar and watch the boys dancing on the pole. Sirius noticed a schedule in his appearances- one week, he would come on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; the next, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Probably when his wife was working, or when he wasn’t.  
On New Year’s Eve, Sirius came in while not working for the first time. The unnamed john had been there, sipping quietly on his usual gin and tonic. He had short brown hair, brushed to one side, and warm peach skin. His eye color was indistinguishable in the dark room with neon lights that spun all around the room, but he was quite handsome in a slightly girlish way. He had a brushing of brown hair on his upper lip, and wore a thick brown bomber jacket with blue jeans and timbers.  
Sirius slid beside the man, and the john turned and, after a moment, gave a small smile.  
“I almost didn’t recognize you with clothing on,” he said in his now-familiar Welsh accent. Sirius grinned.  
“Ha-ha.” Sirius waved Tonks, the bartender, over, and the he-she approached.  
Sirius had always been fond of Tonks back then. Despite being second cousins, had she not been merely fourteen, Sirius probably would’ve made a mose on her (after all, incest was a Black family tradition), and she wasn’t too shabby. She was a solid 5’10, with broad shoulders, large breasts, and large biceps. She wore a sparkly pink halter top that looked good on her. Her hair was a matching bubblegum pink, cut into a short bob that framed her porcelain face. She had bright blue eyes. A black belt accentuated the curves of the hermaphrodite’s waist, and beneath a bare, pale tummy with a golden pierced navel was a pair of black spandex shorts that showed the bulge of a penis.  
She was new here; she’d just turned fourteen, and that was apparently the youngest her father (Ted, who owned the joint) would allow her to be to work here. She looked older though- much, much older- and so they got away with it. Sirius ordered a sprite and vodka.  
Over the course of the night, Sirius discovered the unnamed john was called Remus. He was a female-to-male transgendered person, post-op. His parents had been supportive, and he’d had hormone treatments since thirteen. His birthname had been Ramona Jeanette Lupin, but he’d changed it to Remus John Lupin on his eighteenth birthday.  
He was nineteen and a half, having a birthday in March. He was a neat-freak, asexual but not sex-repulsed, and all but aromantic. He wanted two children, to be a writer, and live in a quiet Welsh home.  
Also, he was Welsh on his mother’s side. He spoke it, fluently, and taught Sirius his new favorite word; bendigedig, which meant fantastic.  
Remus asked about Sirius, too. Sirius admitted that his father was half English, half Scottish, and his mother was half Scottish and half French. He spoke English, Spanish and French fluently, despite his predominantly English accent.  
It was well past midnight when Remus said he had to bid Sirius farewell in his lovely Welsh accent, not entirely unlike English accents.  
The evening after next, Remus accepted a lap dance from Sirius. That was the last Sirius saw of the lovely man for several months.  
Sirius was laid off. In fact, so was everyone at the bar; the fourteen year old bartender had gotten herself knocked up. Sirius tried calling Remus several times, to no avail.  
He moved in with his best mate from school, Frank Longbottom, who happened to be a transgender male as well; however, he was pre-op and planned to stay that way. Hormones had turned him sufficiently manly, however, and though he stood at the the measly 5’8”, luckily his trans female (pre-op to stay as well) girlfriend was pretty short, herself. Frank had a short ruffle of blond-ish spikes, bright brown eyes, and light skin covered in lots of freckles. He was pure Scottish.  
Alice, his girlfriend, had an equally short mess of black spikes, equally light skin, and bright teal eyes. She was a bigger mutt than Sirius; part English, Welsh, French, German, Russian, Italian, and Polish, though she was mainly French and Russian, with an English accent.  
They lived in a cute flat in London off of Frank’s inheritance. Alice worked as a nurse, and Sirius was looking for a job to no avail.  
Sometime in the early fall, Frank and Sirius took Alice to an authentic Irish pub just outside of London, and fate caught up to Sirius.  
Sirius felt like a girl that day, and had dressed in a tight leather skirt, a loose, see-through white shirt, and a black bra with enough padding to make him look like a thin, a-cup girl. He thanked his genes for his completely androgynous features every day; with minimal effort, he could look like the most beautiful girl or the most strikingly handsome man. His hair was wrapped up in a bun, and he wore blood red lipstick, long wings, and thick mascara.  
Frank and Sirius were on either side of Alice, leading her into the pub, and they sat down at the bar. They talked about something or other- Sirius didn’t remember- until the barman slid Sirius a vodka and sprite.  
“I haven’t ordered,” Sirius said with a frown, pushing the drink back.  
“The young buck over there ordered it for ya,” the Irishman said, probably somewhere in his thirties. Sirius and company turned to see something that made the trilingual burst out laughing.  
Remus was smiling gently, his hair a bit longer, his mustache gone. He had on a brown plaid shirt, and he looked as well as ever, but there was something very odd; Tonks, Sirius’ hermaphroditic cousin, sat beside him, looking extremely pregnant. She’d be fifteen by now.  
Sirius excused himself the moment Tonks hobbled off to the ladies’ room and slid next to Remus.  
Remus had been the guy who’d knocked Tonks up, which Sirius found odd, considering they were both asexual and Tonks was aromantic.  
But when Remus showed his reluctance to share, Sirius dropped it. Remus and Tonks weren’t dating- Remus liked blokes, he said- but they did live together and they were having a kid together, to be named Edward, after Tonk’s father Ted. Remus would call him Teddy, though.  
Sirius asked Remus why he hadn’t answered his phone. Remus explained that, while sober, he’d realised it hadn’t been a good idea to give a stripper his number- no offense to Sirius. Sirius didn’t take any.  
Remus said that Sirius should leave before Tonks returned; Sirius knew he was right. He jotted down his number for Remus and told him that he wasn’t a stripper anymore, and please give him a call.  
Much to Sirius’ surprise, Remus did call. Teddy was born the day before Frank discovered he was pregnant.  
It was very weird for Sirius, in a rather humorous way, to see a heterosexual relationship in which the male was pregnant. In fact, it was hilarious.  
Soon after Teddy was old enough to be separated from his mother, Remus moved away from Tonks and Sirius started visiting him instead of just texting.  
On their third date, not long before Teddy’s first birthday, Sirius found out just how realistic sex changes could look and feel.  
It was nine in the evening and the boys were lounging in Remus’ bed, in their pants, their legs tangled. Some random movie was on, but Remus was warm, and Sirius had his eyes closed against Remus’ shoulder.  
“Do you like sex?” Sirius asked. Remus yawned before answering.  
“I guess. It feels alright, I just don’t really… Get the urge.” Remus had his hands in Sirius’ hair; Sirius usually killed people for touching his hair. “Why?”  
“I’m horny, and I was wondering,” Sirius said without shame. Remus laughed.  
“Do you want to have sex?”  
“If you wouldn’t mind. I wouldn’t want to try to coerce you into something you’re not comfortable with.”  
Remus shrugged. “I mean, I usually wouldn’t, but occasionally… I mean, I like you, Sirius. And you like sex. So, occasionally, I guess I should give you what you’d like. It doesn’t bother me much- like I said, it feels alright.”  
Sirius had kissed Remus then, and had proceeded to deepen the kiss. Remus had pulled Sirius up then, and held his face by the cheeks. Eventually, Sirius was naked and straddling Remus’ lap, and a prick was poking his arse that Sirius would have never have guessed to be anything other than 100% natural.  
Back at Frank’s flat, he was overdue. Two weeks after his due date, baby Neville was born. Sirius considered Neville his son.  
Sirius was twenty-three when he moved into Remus’ flat. Teddy was with them half of the time, and Teddy took to calling Sirius Steppy, and because Sirius often took Neville for a sleepover, Neville called him it, too.  
Sirius, who was borderline hypersexual, got laid maybe four or five times a year. He wanked so often he hardly felt decent patting one of the boys’ shoulders.  
And when it came to that aspect, Sirius and Remus’ relationship was literal hell. Sirius didn’t hide this from Remus, but he made sure never to ask for more than Remus freely gave or overstep his boundaries. They were twenty-five when Remus confessed his love to Sirius. Teddy was four, and Neville was three. When they were twenty-six, Sirius proposed to Remus, and Teddy asked if he could be the flower girl, and he was; Neville, then, was the ring barer. Frank was Sirius’ Best Man and Alice was Remus’ Maid of Honor; Remus had been taken into Sirius’ friend group.  
When they were twenty-eight, Frank finally proposed to Alice. A year later, they got married; Sirius was the best man, Remus and Neville were groomsmen and so was a cousin named Arthur Weasley; a girl named Marlene McKinnon was Alice’ Maid of Honor, and her bridesmaids were Teddy, Emmeline Vance, and Lily Potter. Lily’s children, a trans boy named Harry, and a cis girl named Esther, were the ring barer and flower girl.  
They were thirty when Sirius told Remus he needed more sex.  
Remus laughed at him, sitting at the brightly lit dining room table, glasses on his nose.  
“So go get more sex, luv,” Remus had said.  
“Pardon?”  
“Go. You’ve got permission. Shag whomever you want, whenever, but be home at a reasonable hour and don’t bring anyone home. And never, ever tell me about anyone you do shag, unless you want everything about us to change drastically.”  
Sirius truly loved his husband.  
So, for several years, Sirius slept with a new person nearly every night.  
But it all changed one night, in a strange and unwelcome way that Sirius had not been prepared for.  
Sirius’ eye fell upon a guy one day in late August who was even taller than he- and Sirius was just under 185 cm- with smooth, dark olive skin, fluffy black curls for hair. He was built strong, but not necessarily large, and he was rather hairy. Sirius could see the mossy hazel of his eyes.  
Sirius quickly crawled onto a barstool beside the man and grinned when he got a sideways smirk from him.  
“Hello, there, big guy,” Sirius joked. The tan man laughed.  
“Hello,” he said, his voice holding a mild accent that Sirius couldn’t quite place.  
His name was James Potter. He was half English, on his mother’s side, and half Arabic, on his father’s. He was thirty-four, just like Sirius. He was born 27 March, not too long after Remus. The mental comparison to his husband made Sirius’ shoulders tense.  
Eventually, after much friendly back-and-forth, James told Sirius that he’d been born Muslim. Sirius’ heart sunk a little; they were against homosexuality, weren’t they?  
“Are you still?” Sirius asked, stirring his vodka on ice with a long finger.  
James shrugged, an easy smile forming on his face. “A little bit. I believe in Allah, and I pray, but I do not believe quite a bit of what other things are in the Qur’an.”  
“Do you speak Arabic?”  
“Nem.” James said with another sideways smirk. “Arabic is needed for prayer.”  
Sirius looked over at James for a long time before finally noticing a wedding band on his finger.  
“Married?” Sirius asked, nodding towards it. James looked at Sirius, then his ring, and blinked hard.  
“Eh-la, la. No. Divorced.”  
Sirius nodded slowly. “Divorced.” he repeated under his breath.  
“Mutlaqa,” James said with a small smile.  
“Arabic is such a lovely language,” Sirius commented.  
“Yes,” James agreed, then smiled at Sirius.  
The men met eyes for a long moment, and Sirius decided he needed to get on with it.  
“You’re very handsome,” Sirius said.  
“Thank you. As are you,” James said politely.  
“Are you single?”  
James laughed. “Yes. Mutlaqa, remember?”  
Sirius’ lip twitched upwards. “Wanna get out of here?”  
James gave Sirius a wicked grin and stood.  
James led Sirius out of the bar and to his car. They drove for about ten minutes, and Sirius admired James’ rather nice profile, before James led him into a nice small house and into a nice, modern bedroom.  
James was kissing Sirius before Sirius could properly get his bearings. Sirius wrapped his arms around James’ shoulders and pulled the man into him. He smelled rich, like fancy chocolates and flavored cigars. He tasted like expensive hookah, and he was the hottest thing Sirius had ever touched. Soon, he let himself be pushed into the near-stranger’s soft bedding. It was overwhelming, in a very good way, to feel himself being smooshed into the bed by such a large, masculine man.  
Sirius was the top with every man other than Remus and, now, James, and it was rather peculiar to Sirius how much he enjoyed being speared on the tan-skinned man’s thick cock. It felt nice to bury his tongue into James’ mouth while the latter pounded ferociously into Sirius from the front. A big, strong hand pumped Sirius to climax, and the genderless alleycat exploded on both of their chests the same moment James began to pump Sirius full like a firehose.  
After a ten minute break of sweating, panting, and curling into one another, James suddenly sat up, taking Sirius with him, and twirling the smaller man on his dick, only to physically bounce him up and down on his prick like a rag doll.  
It was nearly three a.m. by the time the Arabic man’s desires had been sated, and shakily, Sirius had muttered something about needing to be home. James had stood and offered Sirius a ride, but Sirius insisted on taking a Uber. James wouldn’t let him leave without accepting enough euros to pay for it.  
I was three thirty by the time a tired, freshly washed Sirius crawled into bed beside Remus.  
“It’s late,” murmured Remus, sounding only slightly upset.  
“Guy got a bit pushy,” Sirius said, wrapping his arms around Remus. Not long after, the couple fell asleep.  
The next morning, when Remus awoke, he picked up the clothing Sirius had disposed of in the bathroom, and a handful of bills as well as a bit of paper with some writing on it was in one pocket.  
Sirius,  
020 7946 0776  
-James  
Remus snickered in amusement. Though Sirius, as promised, never shared details with Remus, he had told his lover that he never was interested in a second session with any of them, so the fact that he’d gotten a number was kind of odd to Remus. And he didn’t know why Sirius had gotten money from the man, but he didn’t particularly want to, either.  
Remus set the money and number beside Sirius’ cellular on his night table and threw the clothing in the hamper, the continued cleaning.  
Several hours later, Sirius awoke and groaned for his Remus. However, when he rolled over and saw two notes on his bedside table, he sighed.  
The top one was from Remus;  
Darling.  
Out to do laundry, although since I’m pretty sure I’ll be back before three in the afternoon, you most likely will not read this note. I love you.  
Remus  
And the bottom one was from James.  
Sirius shuddered when memories of the handsome Arabic from last night flooded his brain. Sirius had made a rule of not sleeping with the same person twice- other than Remus, of course- but, as Sirius pushed his knotted hair back at two o’clock in the afternoon, he decided that maybe he’d make an exception.  
In the dining room, not ten minutes later, Sirius dialed the number James must have added to the cash he’d given Sirius last night. Luckily, Sirius hadn’t used the money to pay for the Uber. There was a blueberry muffin on a saucer before him, and a small cup of tea on a matching one. The tea kettle sat on an oven mitt behind it.  
James didn’t pick up. The prompt for a message by James was spoken once in English and once in Arabic. Sirius left a generic message and hung up.  
Sirius sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair. Everything about James had been different.  
First of all, he’d been bigger than Sirius- but not too big. He was built strong, but lithely, and every part of him had had a heat to it, and a hardness. He was only a handful of centimeters taller than Sirius, and hardly any wider, but he’d just felt so- big and significant. Not many people earned the title of significant in Sirius’ eyes.  
And talking to him had been fun. Looking back, there hadn’t even been any real flirting, just Sirius gazing at the man dreamily and listening to him talk. Sirius was the talker, and Sirius was the dreamy one, even with his Remus.  
And why had he casually thought of Remus? It had always made him feel almost guilty when any thought of his lover came up, however sparse they were. It was as if with James, everything was all right when, in fact, they were not.  
Which brought up another fact. What was Sirius doing? Hardly anything better than cheating. Yeah, he had Remus’ permission… But it was all so one-sided. Remus got nothing out of it besides a cold bed for half of every night.  
Sirius had never really thought about the guidelines of their relationship, but now that he was, he felt sick. He stood abruptly and walking into the toilet room, and slouched on the wall. His selfish inability to keep his prick inside of his drawers had gone on long enough. After several moment of sitting slumped against the wall, Sirius once again flew to his feet and ripped James’ number in two. However, when he went to delete the call out of his call logs, it took him a moment to do so, a moment in which the man’s radiant laugh echoed through Sirius’ very soul. It made the man shiver before pure rage coursed through him; that was exactly why he had to stop.  
Remus was too valuable to lose over one night of a good shagging.  
That night, Remus was surprised to see Sirius curled up in bed, practically already asleep. It had been half past ten by the time Remus had closed his laptop and decided to retire; he’d been writing since four, anyway. With a smile, Remus crawled into bed and closed his eyes as the drowsy man turned and pulled him into his arms. Remus always felt so safe, there in Sirius’ arms, and he rubbed his cheek against the man’s pectoral.  
It was only for a brief moment that Remus wondered why Sirius had stayed home. He’d been out for longer than he’d ever been, Remus supposed, and had probably gotten his fill for a night or two from a rather wonderful time. Remus fell asleep listening to his husband’s heartbeat.  
At five in the morning, Sirius awoke to his phone ringing. Caller ID identified it as James, but the drowsy man silenced it and fell back asleep, effectively forgetting about the returned call.  
Sometime next month, Sirius was out looking for a job. Remus didn’t know why he never touched the money his parents had left for him in return for leading a respectable life despite having been disowned, but Remus supposed Sirius had his good reasons. Sirius never talked about his parents much, or his childhood, but Remus had gathered that there’d been a younger brother and three cousins who stayed with them every summer. Not from Sirius, of course, but from Tonks. Her mother had been the middle of the three cousins, and had been disowned as well, for marrying a poor owner of a gay bar. Remus had always liked that story.  
Sometimes, he missed Tonks. They’d made it clear that there were no romantic feelings on either side- Remus doubted he could love anyone but Sirius, and if he could, it wouldn’t be anyone as… Loud, as Tonks. Sirius was loud, too, but in a fun, playful way, and Tonks was just loud, no positive or negative connotations to it. In fact, Remus would have preferred it in a bad way; at least then it’d have some meaning to it.  
She had been nice, though. Told amazing stories, and though that flicker of passion was rare to enter her eyes, when it did, she said the most beautiful things.  
She hadn’t been particularly interested in talking to him- well, ever. She’d done it during the pregnancy to involve him, but now that Teddy was here, Remus could be a part of it without her. Not that she disliked talking to him; she didn’t see the point.  
He remembered how they’d made Teddy. She’d been very blunt and walked over to him;  
“D’you reckon you want kids?”  
Remus had raised his brows and torn his eyes away from the dancer. “I suppose, yes.”  
“Do you want some now?”  
“I wouldn’t mind, but-” Remus had been deeply amused.  
“Great. I get off at three,” and she’d walked away.  
He hadn’t known her age or he wouldn’t have even spoken to her. Ted, her father, had thankfully understood, and had saved his fury for Tonks, who had known full well what she’d done. Not that she cared, of course. When he and Andromeda had grounded her, she’d simply run away, and Remus was forced to take her in to keep the mother of his child from living on the streets.  
Remus shook his head. There was no point in reminiscing on her, so he texted Sirius. Much to his chagrin, a vibration happened upon the table; Sirius had left his phone here, and though it had been right in front of his face, he hadn’t noticed it.  
Bored, he decided to go through it. He knew Sirius wouldn’t mind, of course, or he wouldn’t have.  
There was nothing interesting, and he had no fun contacts. In fact he only had:  
Alice Longbottom  
Fabian Prewett  
Frank Longbottom  
Gideon Prewett  
Home  
James Potter  
Regulus Black  
Remus Lupin<3  
Tonks ‘,=(  
Teddy:)  
Teddy Home

 

Although, the only one Remus didn’t recognize was James Potter, though it did ring some unknown bell in the back of Remus’ mind.  
Alice and Frank, of course. Himself, the home number, and Teddy. Tonks because Sirius was an emergency contact for Teddy at school. Regulus was Sirius’ brother, though he never called him. Fabian and Gideon were two of Sirius’ mates from school, and they talked a couple times a month.  
But James Potter. Remus opened the contact and was suddenly struck with the realization; that note from a couple weeks ago. Sirius hadn’t gone out since.  
Suddenly, Remus frowned. He’d assumed it was a rather nice shag, and hadn’t put much thought to how long it’d been since Sirius had gone out, but now… Maybe something bad had happened. Remus searched through Sirius’ messages, call logs, social media, but could find no contact with James Potter.  
With a sigh and a half-hearted hop that Sirius wouldn’t mind terribly, Remus called Mr. James Potter.  
“Mahlaan! Jims mashghul alan.” a young voice called out, probably a teenage boy. Shock coursed through Remus.  
“Hello?” The voice asked again after a moment, tentative. A young teenage boy.  
“Is… This James Potter?” Sirius usually went for older guys, and Remus had trouble believing- of course not.  
“S’his son,” the guy explained. Remus audibly sighed. “What do you need?”  
“I, uh, I don’t… I’m not sure.” Remus suddenly felt ludicrous.  
“Okay, well. My dad’s in the loo, should I-”  
“It’s fine. I just- he probably wouldn’t remember- it’s been something like a month- I just- goodbye.” Remus hung up and dropped the phone, anxiety working up in his throat. What was he supposed to have done? Tell a boy no older than Teddy and probably a couple years younger that Remus’ husband may or may not have slept with his dad?  
And what was that language? The kid hadn’t had an accent, at least not one that Remus could detect over the phone.  
Sirius had always liked accents; he’d gone mad over Remus’ Welsh accent, and to Remus it wasn’t too different from all of the other accents around England. He’d probably cream himself over some African accent or whatever language that had been.  
Sirius came home only a couple of minutes afterwards. Remus was still at the table, looking sick, and Sirius frowned at his lover.  
“What?” The man ran his fingers through his hair. However, he felt like a girl today, if his strikingly womanly appearance had any say.  
“It’s nothing, mate. I don’t feel good. Went through your phone,” Remus pointed at it, on the table in front of him. “Hope you don’t mind.”  
“I’ve got nothing to hide,” Sirius said nonchalantly, and tossed his blazer onto the table. “Go on to bed. D’you want tea or soup?”  
“Both,” Remus said. He stood and mulled over into the bedroom.  
After Sirius finished washing Remus’ dishes, his phone began to ring, still on the table. Sirius walked over and picked it up.  
“Black,” he answered, like one of the detectives on the telly.  
“Sirius?” a harshly familiar voice asked.  
“James?” Sirius asked with a hard frown.  
“Yes,” he said. “You called?”  
“Over a month ago,” Sirius said with a frown.  
“No, earlier this afternoon. My son answered. He saved the number and told me you called, said it had been over a month, and hung up on him.”  
Sirius frowned before remembering Remus’ words. But-  
“That must have been my husband.”  
“Your- husband?” Confusion poured from James’ voice. “You are married?”  
“Yes, but it’s an open relationship.” Sirius smoothed his skirt with a hand. “Look, James, I have to go-”  
“But-”  
“Goodbye, James. Next time I won’t answer.” And then, Sirius hung up.  
A week later, Sirius got a call from his brother. Confusion had bent his brow from his seat on the leather couch in his and Remus’ flat, and Remus was at a publisher’s, or whatever. He’d answered.  
“Black.”  
“I-Is this Si-Sirius?” an unknown voice had asked. It couldn’t be Reg’s.  
“Yes,” Sirius said, showing mistrust in his tone.  
“Good. Well. This is- my name is- well, my name isn’t really im-important. But Regulus isn’t alright. He needs- he needs you. He’s in the hospital-”  
“What happened?” Sirius demanded.  
“Got hit by a car. He had his helmet on, though- he was on a motorbike- we think he’ll be alright-”  
“Where is he?” Sirius snapped.  
“St. Mungo’s, in London.”  
“Thanks.” Sirius hung up and shot out the door. Remus had the car, of course, but St. Mungo’s was practically spitting distance; one of the few reasons their very nice flat was within their price range. Ambulances day and night, not that Sirius or Remus minded.  
Sirius rushed into the hospital. His hair wasn’t brushed and he wore old, ripped jeans and a worn Zeppelin shirt, but he’d pulled on his jean jacket. Motorcycle boots adorned his feet. Sirius was directed into Regulus’ room in ICU.  
The first bed was empty. Regulus had tubes coming out of him from everywhere, and no one was around him. Sirius breathed in a giant breath.  
His kid brother wasn’t so much a kid anymore. He was ten years Sirius’ junior, and Sirius had left at age 19, when Reg was 9. Now, he was twenty-four, and it was the first time Sirius had seen Regulus since he’d lived with him  
His hair was short and well-kept, though it was currently greasy and dead. He looked a lot like Sirius, though the older man was sure his eyes were still blue, not the same silver as his own. He was probably as tall as Sirius, maybe a tad shorter, and just a bit thinner. He wore a hospital gown, but nice black jeans and an Aerosmith shirt were on the chair next to him, bloodied and ugly. Combat boots, also destroyed, were on the floor.  
Sirius sat next to his brother and tentatively touched a warm hand. The younger man did not stir. Leaning back, Sirius pulled out his phone and told his husband.  
Regulus was paralyzed from the hips down; the very bottom of his spine had snapped. If he’d been five minutes farther from the hospital, he would have died. Regulus acted as if Sirius had never left, though the man in the bed was much different from the boy Sirius remembered. He was mature, soft-spoken, and sarcastic, mild and witty. He had kind eyes and a cruel expression.  
He did have a bit of Sirius’ inappropriate humor. He joked that at least his prick was still fully functioning. Sirius had hit his arm for that.  
There was still a lot of internal bleeding. Remus came straight from work when he’d heard the news, and suggested Sirius utilize the hospital’s offer of paying for a bed to stay in so as to be close to Regulus; the hospital was very large and had enough beds to spare. Sirius used the money from his parents for it, and Remus visited after work.  
James called Sirius once every day, but Sirius never answered.  
Regulus started getting worse. Miscellaneous organs were failing. The drugs weren’t working. He continued to bleed.  
Eventually, that’s what got him; the bleeding. If it hadn’t though, his lungs were a moment from collapsing and his kidneys were hardly even there. He went late at night, holding Sirius’ hand. It was the first and only time Sirius had ever cried.  
Remus had come in a half hour later. He’d put a hand on Sirius’ shoulder but let him cry.  
Afterwards, however, he’d grown furious. He started throwing things and screaming. The hospital admitted him for a 24-hour watch in the psych ward. Quiet and near tears himself, Remus had gone home.  
Remus was awoken at five thirty in the morning by persistent knocking at the front door. He’d risen reluctantly and answered it.  
He was struck by how handsome the man was. He was probably two meters tall, with a lithe build and dark, furry skin. His eyes were a bright hazel and his lips were full. He wore a nice button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and expensive suit pants.  
“Can I help you?” Remus asked quietly.  
“Are you Sirius’ husband?” the man asked in an accent that Remus couldn’t quite place.  
“Yes, and you are?”  
“I am very sorry. I- me and your husband- a month and a half ago-”  
It struck Remus suddenly who this man was. “James Potter?”  
“Yes.”  
“Why are you sorry?” Remus asked. James only blinked.  
“You are married?”  
“Yes.”  
James was speechless. “Would you like to come in?” Remus offered tiredly. After a moment, James walked in, and Remus motioned for him to sit at the table. “Coffee, tea, milk, or anything?”  
“I would like only some water, if I may,” James requested. Remus poured him a glass.  
Neither Remus nor James ever told Sirius what happened during that. It drove Sirius mad, but James always tsked and tapped Sirius on the nose, insisting that every relationship must have secrets or you’d know not to trust your lover.  
Remus and James picked Sirius up together. Sirius was very, very confused, but was silent in the passenger seat of the car. Regulus had left Sirius a great deal of money and his motorbike, on the condition he name it something unisex. It took him a great deal of time, but he finally settled on Elvendork- something neither Remus nor James ever understood. James enjoyed it, though, and told him that the best part of the name was that it was unisex. That sort of became the bike’s signature description. Remus thought they were weird.  
James was sort of pulled into their lives after that. Sirius was too heartbroken to do anything but accept it at the time, but slowly, he began to quiz his lovers on that more and more, and neither ever really explained it. Not long after, Sirius and Remus met Harry and James’ daughter Esther; James and Harry then met Teddy. About a year after Regulus’ passing, the men’s lease was up, and they moved in with James to his pretty, quaint house. There were five small bedrooms. One was for James, Sirius, and Remus; one was for Harry; one was for Esther; one was for Teddy; one was for guests. Remus got his own study, and James payed for Sirius to go to school to be a detective and hired him at his P.I. firm. Frank, Alice, and Neville visited often, and soon, little Esther had a rather large crush on Neville. Harry fancied Teddy, though poor Teddy was oblivious… Eventually, however, Neville married Esther and Teddy married Harry.  
Harry and Esther’s mother (and James’ ex-wife) was a Welsh woman with flame red hair. She was rather lovely and on good terms with James, and she visited often. She was a fiery woman and a Christian, and she often debated with both James (who was, as he referred to it, untraditionally Muslim) and Remus (who was very, very much an atheist).  
It was fun for Sirius, someone who never though much about God and who had a very unconventional gender and orientation, to listen to the differences in opinion over lots of different things, and to see a surge in the importance of religion as the four children formed their own.  
Harry grew up to be Christian, and attended church every Saturday. Teddy decided that he was a Wiccan witch, who worshipped nature, and was a member of a coven. Esther, much to the horror of both her parents, converted to Judaism at age 19. Neville was atheist.  
Other matters grew important in Sirius’ life. He didn’t really have the freedom to dress how he wished at his work; customers tended to be slightly prejudiced. As much as Sirius would’ve loved to tell them off, he loved what he did and settled on dressing exactly like James for work.  
He was often the one to go shopping for groceries, to take the kids clothing shopping, to drive them to school. Remus was more or less a housewife/fixer-upper, and he cleaned and cooked and also fixed up anything that broke. James worked the most hours and supplied the money for basically everything.  
James married both Sirius and Remus. It was rather odd for them all, but in a pleasant way. They all each brought something nice to the relationship, and Sirius found it odd to think back on the times it had been just Sirius and Remus; they’d bickered every other day, what with Sirius’ fire and Remus’ cold nonchalance. James was the mediator and brought a playful lightheartedness to everything.  
When the kids were sixteen (except Esther, who was fifteen), the trio built onto their house a second level, and not long after, the Longbottoms moved in, including Frank’s mother, Augusta.  
Life was beautiful and fun and easy. Remus, James, and Sirius were impossibly in love. The children were happy. They discovered something new everyday; Harry had been born Henrietta. James’ family, despite being strongly Muslim, supported their son and welcomed his husbands with open arms, and they particularly fancied Sirius. Lily had a wife named Emmeline; a pretty Canadian girl with blonde hair and big tits. The kids- and theirs- adored her. She visited whenever Lily did. Around the age of forty, Alice’s friend Marlene started coming around more often. Sirius tried his damndest to stick his nose as far into their business as possible, but James had thwarted him easily and made sure Sirius wasn’t rude. Eventually, Frank and Alice announced to their friends that Alice and Marlene were dating, and asked for permission for the woman to move in with them. The kids adored her, too. Eventually, Lily and Emmeline joined them upstairs, of course in a separate room. Yes, life was good, and it was all worth it even now, when everyone was almost gone.


End file.
